Laundry
by Marzi
Summary: He visited her for no reason, but she had her own ideas. Games Series
1. Chapter 1

1

The large bake house door creaked open, just large enough to admit a person. It screeched on its closing, and the cries of the hinges was ended with the sound of footfalls.

Sweeney gave his eyes a moment to adjust to the light. The large oven at the room's center cast an eerie firelight through a small window in its giant door. The light fell on a large table, used by Mrs. Lovett for butchering. It also illuminated a pile of blood stained clothes and a large washbasin, which Mrs. Lovett was standing over.

He remained outside of the firelight, and instead watched the baker. She didn't appear to be doing anything other than staring at the clothes, as if wishing them to clean themselves.

"You know.." Sweeney's voice rumbled out of the darkness, surprising the woman despite the door's announcement of his arrival. "That tends _not_ to get things done?"

Mrs. Lovett searched for his silhouetting the shadows, looking rather agitated. "Well love, you do it quite often. I always wondered if there was some type o' magic behind it."

Her snappy remark made him frown. "Is there a problem I should be aware of Mrs. Lovett?"

She let out a long breath and flicked back an unruly curl with her hand. "Nothin' ta really be worryin' 'bout Mr. T. Jus' a lot of work ta be done is all."

Not satisfied with her answer, Sweeney began to walk towards her, though his eyes scanned the bake house. "I see clothes." He stated, stopping in front of her. "A real problem to be worried about, Mrs. Lovett?" Sweeney looked up from the laundry to meet her eyes.

Her lips were pursed into a slight frown, and her hands were on her hips. "It is yours."

He had had no doubt that it was his, but the fact she was bringing attention to it made him wonder. An amused smile flickered onto his face. "Shall I do it then?"

Mrs. Lovett's face was passive, though her eyes seemed to be smiling. "Ya can 'elp."

They stared at each other from across the wash basin before Sweeney bent down and picked up one of his shirts. The shirt was almost completely white except for its red stained arm. "Do you wash the entire thing when it's like this?" He stared at the stain, rather than the baker.

Mrs. Lovett snorted at Sweeney's question. "'Ave ya ever done any laundry 'fore Mr. T? It ain't tha' difficult but it ain't selective." Taking up a different top, she ducked it into washbasin with a small paddle and grabbed a hard bar of soap. "Watch carefully Mr. T, or ye'll jus' be a nuisance!"

She was teasing him, and despite the fact she seemed to be taking great enjoyment out of it, Sweeney ignored the remark. "I have done laundry before." He said coolly.

"Oh?" She looked up from her scrubbing.

"I was simply trying to come up with a way to make this go.. Faster."

"I already know a way to do tha'!" She laughed.

"Do tell." He growled, dropping his own shirt into the water.

She leaned towards him, far enough over the water to make him stop unless he wanted to get her wet. Mrs. Lovett simply stared at him a moment before responding. "We could make a competition ou' of it."

"Alright." Sweeney was too busy looking at the proffered view of her bosom to fully understand what he had just agreed to.

* * *

A/N Even Sweeney can get distracted by the view.. Hehe.. Just for the record, I have really no knowledge of how they did laundry then, so I came up with a washbasin ,a wash board, a giant wooden spoon and some strange type of soap. If any of my dear readers happens to know how laundry was done, I'll gladly take the info and incorporate it. Also, this story might end up shorter than the others (chapter number wise) and if it does, I'll be unveiling my little side project to make up for that loss. Tata- don't forget to review.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N Well, this chapter is longer and fluffier than I've done in a while. So, enjoy it- they'll only be one more chapter after it, and then I'll be revealing my super-secret-top-secret-uber-duber-side project. Oh ya.. Did anyone else run off and buy Sweeney today? 'Cause ever since I bought mine I've been clutching it to my chest...

* * *

2

"_Pleaugh-_" Sweeney's spluttering ended in harsh coughs. Yanking his hands out of the soapy water, he attempt to hurriedly dry them off on his pants before rubbing at his eyes and face. His eyes narrowed at Mrs. Lovett, as they were reddened from the irritation it added something more menacing to the look.

She took no notice of the affect and instead laughed. "Mr. T, ya aren't suppose' ta drink it!"

"I wasn't trying to!" He snapped, yanking his pulled up sleeves back down. His hands were wrinkled from the water and continued scrubbing of the soap on the clothes. "You threw it in my face!"

"We made no rules-"

"Rules! We're doing laundry Mrs. Lovett! You said whomever finished their half first-"

"Exactly." She cut him off, smiling. Though in any other situation Nellie would have cowered at his temper, she couldn't help but be amused at him this time. "I ne'er said you couldn't slow the other person down luv, just a bit o' fun in the game."

Straightening up, Sweeney glared at her. Suddenly a new gleam entered his eye, causing her to suddenly become suspicious. He sauntered over to her side of the washbasin, smirking.

"Mr. T?" She asked warily, pulling her hands from the water.

"Anythin' to slow the other person down?" He leaned towards her slightly.

"Well, not _anything'-_"

"You said slow the other person down."

"There's a bit o' etiquette to it really." She mumbled.

"Etiquette? Mrs. Lovett, we're cleaning clothes."

Before she could say anything else, one of his hands came up and gave her back a hard shove, sending her toppling towards the water. Nellie shrieked right before her entire front landed in the soapy water, adding to Sweeney's satisfied smirk. Turning to head back towards his uncleaned clothes, he was shocked when he suddenly felt a wet hand grasp his wrist.

"Ya sneaky-!" He couldn't hear anything else, as his head was quickly dunked into the water. Hurriedly grasping the basin's sides, Sweeney forced himself up, and stumbled a few paces back; gasping for air.

"Bloody woman!" He snapped, pushing back his soapy locks with a hand. His vision was blurred from the water, and he squinted his eyes in an attempt to keep soap from entering them once again.

Giggling reached his ears and blinding reached forward for Mrs. Lovett. Coming into contact with nothing, Sweeney almost landed in the water again.

"Ya look right dif'rent wit' ya hair back like tha' Mr. T." Nellie laughed.

Turning swiftly towards her voice, Sweeney grabbed Mrs. Lovett and pulled her into a large bear hug. The soap and water still obscured his vision, making it incredibly difficult to see. His grip around her tightened, possibly to a painful degree.

"What kind of different?" He growled.

"Oh-" she squeaked. "Jus' not the same." Her voice was strained as his tight grip on her prevented her from getting all of the required air to her lugs.

Ignoring her slight wheezing, Sweeney rubbed his face on her shoulder in an attempt to clear his eyes. Despite the fact he had her pressed closely against him, she only stiffened when his face touched her. He smirked.

"Something wrong, Mrs. Lovett?"

"Jus'..can'..breath."

"Oh," he slowly eased his tight grip on her, though he didn't let go entirely.

Nellie took a grateful gulp of air. "Thank ya."

"My pleasure to help." Sweeney watched her eyes dance around the soapy mess of the bake house.

She sniffed, trying to seem stern despite the playfulness of her expression. "Ya did a right job helpin' las' time ya offered luv."

"That was entirely your fault Mrs. Lovett."

"Was it now?" Because of being held by Sweeney, she was incapable of putting her hands on he hips like she usually would have in such an argument. So instead, she wrapped them around his waist, in much the same manner he had his looped around hers.

He raised a question eyebrow at her gesture, but didn't comment on it. "You failed to fully outline the rules."

"I may 'ave done tha'…" She agreed. "But I did tell ya 'ow one won, didn' I?"

"Yes." Sweeney immediately became suspicious.

"Good!" One of her arms left his waist as she pointed towards an empty space on the bake house's floor. "Tha's where my shirts _were_ Mr. T."

He scowled at her cheerful expression.

"I suppose I won!"

Before he could express his irritation, or come up with some way to make he statement less true, Nellie pressed her lips to his. The kiss caught him off-guard, so he remained frozen in shock until she pulled away.

"That'll 'ave ta do Mr. T!" She slipped out of his embrace and headed for the bake house door. Sweeney turned towards her, confused and slightly annoyed that she had slipped away form his so easily. "Ya'll finish the laundry and clean up, wont ya Mr. T?" Water shined just as brightly on her face as the smirk she wore. "Ya're a dear, luv!" Nellie then slipped out of the room before he could protest.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N It felt strange not updating yesterday.. but I was too tired to finish this chapter. 'Ere the las' bit finally is then.

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3

Once the door was behind her and closed, Mrs. Lovett felt a sudden dilemma. She could either lock the door as a joke and run away, or just runaway from the door, or quite possibly just stand there and wait. There was no way she could predict how he would respond to being left with the chores.

Mrs. Lovett wisely chose not to lock the door, and hesitantly made her way up the stairs. A soapy puddle had gathered on the floor where she had stood, and droplets trailed her up the stairs. She hardly paid them any mind though, preoccupied with why Sweeney hadn't stormed through the door and attempted to kill her.

He wasn't actually doing the laundry, was he?

"Mum?"

Hearing the boy's voice brought Mrs. Lovett out of her thoughts. "What is it Toby?" She asked, looking as if being soaked was a perfectly normal thing.

"Wot happened?" He asked, nearly dropping the meat pie he was holding.

"Oh, this?" She plucked at the wet fabric. "Jus' doin' some laundry is all."

"With the clothes still on?"

Mrs. Lovett put her hands on her hips at his still gaping mouth. "'Course not, Mr. Todd was jus'-" She stopped herself. Toby probably wouldn't believe Sweeney doing anything that would moderately help her, and thinking of the barber having fun was probably out of the boy's perception of reality. Plus, hearing about Mr. Todd shoving her into water deep enough to drown in probably wouldn't improve the Toby's views on him.

"Wot did Mr. Todd do?" He asked hurriedly, misinterpreting her silence.

"Nohting dear, he was jus' kind enough to help epty ou' an ol' wash tub an' I got splashed." She took a step towards him and ruffled his hair. "I'm going to go change. Ya've got everythin' ya need lad?"

Toby nodded his head, giving her an oddly suspicious look, Mrs. Lovett kept smiling and ignored it.

* * *

Sweeney stood still and stared at the bake house door for a good twenty minutes.

Do the laundry and clean up? Was the woman mad? Scrubbing a few dingy shirts was one thing, but cleaning up the entire bake house? For surely their water fight had splashed against everything…

He frowned, why hadn't he just stopped her at the door? Why was he even _thinking_ about doing it? A little voice inside his head said he owed it to her. He squashed out its little voice immediately and crossed his arms as he began to think.

_She might think of it as owing _you_ once it's done._

A little smirk appeared on his face, and it stayed until soaped dripped into his eye causing his to curse loudly. Furiously rubbing at his eye, Sweeney took a quick assessment of the cleanup range. Mrs. Lovett baked, served, butchered, did the laundry and cleaned every single day. How difficult could it be to finish cleaning a few shirts and tidy up the bake house?

Nodding his head, Sweeney pushed up his sleeves once more.

* * *

Mrs. Lovett shifted in her bed, sleepily opening one of her eyes. "S'umone there?" She mumbled. Slowly sitting up, she rubbed at her tired eyes. She couldn't read the clock in the gloom, but she came to the conclusion it was sometime in the very early morning. "Toby, is tha' you luv?" Nightmares sometimes still haunted the boy, and she had no problem with consoling him when he woke from them.

"'Fraid not my pet."

She jumped and clutched her chest at the sound of Sweeney's rumbling voice. That was the second time he had scared her from the shadows. "Gave me quite the fright Mr. T!" Mrs. Lovett didn't think to question as to why he was in her room.

"Apologies." He chuckled, coming to the edge of her bed.

"Wot is it ya want Mr. T?" She asked, voice suddenly dropping to a whisper.

"Want, pet?" Sweeney sat on the edge of the bed, causing the mattress to creak.

"Yes, well-"

"Hush," he brushed a finger down her cheek, causing her to shiver. "Move over."

"Wot?"

"You heard me pet, move over. I'm exhausted."

Mrs. Lovett did as he asked, confused, watching him pull himself under the covers with near suspicion. Realization hit her. "Ya actually-"

"My hands ache. How is it you stand that?" Sweeney interrupted her once more, settling down on the bed with a sigh.

"One gets used to it, I suppose…?" Still sitting up, Nellie watched the near-innocent outline of Sweeney's body beneath the covers before settling down next to him. "Is not work a barber should be doin' anyhow."

"I suppose." He teased her. "Now come closer, I wont bite."

Nellie moved herself slowly closer to the barber, wary until a hand snaked around her middle and pulled her towards him.

"Like that." Sweeney purred in her ear.

"Mr. T…" she mumbled, almost breathless. "Wot happened to your shirt?" It had only taken her a moment to realize he wasn't wearing one.

"It got dirty." He growled, suddenly sounding irritated.

"Ya cleaned-"

"Hush." He snapped. "Go to sleep."

Nellie laughed, despite herself. "Ya didn' know 'ow long it would take ta dry, did ya?"

An annoyed huff came from him. "I tried to use the oven." She opened her mouth but before she even spoke fingers were on her lips. "It was much hotter than I expected."

Biting her lip to prevent another fit of laughter, Nellie reached up and gently held the hand that was pressed to her mouth. "Didn' burn ya'self, did ya luv?" Her voice was steady despite her smile.

"No, but the shirt is regrettably deceased."

"Mr. T, was tha' a joke?"

Instead of replying he tried to pull his hand away from her, but she held onto it. "Now now luv, ya said ya ached."

"And you're going to make me better?"

"Much."


End file.
